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Three Traps to Avoid in Customer Interviewing

Interviewer:“HAVE YOU EVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT AND HAD TO SHUT IT DOWN?”

Respondent: “Yes.”

Interviewer: “HOW OFTEN DOES THAT HAPPEN?”

Respondent: “Once in a while it happens like that;probably twice a year.”

Interviewer: “HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO GET OUTSIDE HELP, LIKE SERVICE FROM THE MANUFACTURER, HIRE A CONSULTANT, BRING ON A TEMPORARY PERSON TO HELP?”

Respondent: “No. We’ve never done that.”

Does this sound familiar?We hear interviews just like this one all the time.Itshowswhy customer research often gets a bad rap.“We never learn anything newfrom customer interviews,”people say.If you conduct interviews like thisone,that statement is true: you won’teverlearn anything newwith questions like this. Unfortunately,although extreme,the poor quality ofthis interviewreflectshow most customer interviewsgo.

Let’s break down the interview example presented above. I’veidentifiedthreecommonmistakesyou should avoidand how your interviewcouldimproveas a result. Thechanges, by the way,are not purely fictional. Theyreflect actual responses from other customers – interviewed by a more skilled moderator– in the same studyas the example from above.

MISTAKE #1: Askingtoo many “yes” or “no” questions.

Yes or no questions are easy to ask, but they’re bad questions. Theydon’t encourage conversation, thoughtfulness, or detailed answers. In addition,yes-no questions implyto the respondentthatyou’re looking for short, quick answers. They tendto respond this way throughout the interview. The result is that you get far less information out of your interview than you could

MISTAKE #2: Focusing too much on thenumbers.

Numbers are for quantitative surveys. But in customer interviews, they have the same effect as yes-no questions.Consider leavingmost ofyour quantitative questions for your surveylater on,rather than trying to use them in qualitative interviews. Thenumbers that you get in a qualitative interview are not reliable anyway. If you want quantitative answers, you really need to doasurvey, whichis another part of a complete Voice of the Customer.￼(Learn more in our groundbreaking article).

MISTAKE #3: Filling in answers.

When we ask questions in an interview, we all sometimes provide possible answers for the respondent. For example, “What are you looking for in thissituation, is it something bigger, smaller, faster, something like that?” Don’t do this. It’s a way of softening your questions. It also makes the interviewer feel like they’re making it clear. But mostly,it’s imposing your thoughts about what a respondent might or should say on them. Respondents with strong opinions might challenge the premise of your proposed answers: “No it’s not that,” they say. “It’s really none of those things.” But others might not have such strong opinions in the moment, or even if they do, they’re just too polite or otherwise unwilling to challenge you. You’ll never know. Soften your questions when you ask them.Trynot to lead respondents withpossible answersbecause your initial question is probably clear enough.It’s better to provide clarification after,if your respondent asksforit.

Here's another way the interview could have gone. In this example, the interviewer avoids the mistakes in the example above, and gets much more detailed information with far fewer questions.The detailed content these questions elicit is in bold.

Interviewer: "TELL ME ABOUT THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE MACHINE. WALK ME THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED."

Respondent: "We could see that the unit was running hotter than normal. It wasn’t due for maintenance for a while, but thetemperature was spiking outside of what we usually want, and I was afraidsomething would fail, that the bearings might fail, or something else. I didn’t want to have to make a change, though, becauseremoving the control panel is difficult, there’s several stepsto it andit’s all in a tight place.

"It’s also difficult sometimes to see the part numbersto know what to change, whetherwe have it or have to order it. There’s a lot of grease and the lighting is not good.

"It can take a lot longer to do it all, sometimes a day or more,and we weren’t ready to do that. So we waited, and it was okay, but when we got inside we saw we were lucky. We had a hose leaking fluid, and it could’ve shut the whole operation down if it failed, and we had no way to know until we looked inside, and it wasn’t due for maintenance."

Interviewer: "WHY DO YOU THINK THE HOSE FAILED?"

Respondent: "Well, we’re in a difficult environment. The ambient temperature changes,the weather is corrosive with rain and salt from the seawater,and we plan for that in our maintenance schedule. But I don’t think the machine handles the weather like they say it does. We have [another brand] that’s older that never fails, never has that happen.

Although some respondents are better at answering questions than others, the way you conduct the interview matters. These represent a few examples of the good, bad, and ugly in customer interviews. Everyonewho conducts more than a fewcustomerinterviewsmakesmistakes,butknowingwhat to avoidwill help you avoid making thesemistakes ahabit.

To learn more about Voice of the Customer interviewing, join us for our course,Listening to the Voice of the Customer. You’ll learn about these tips and more in a format providing lots of interview practice in a supportive environment. If you’re a seasoned interviewer, it’s a greatrefresher. If you’re new to interviewing, it will put you on the right path and provide you with the confidence necessary to conduct successful interviews.